Shadow of Blood
by Hakugei
Summary: During a stormy night, one kid learns the truth behind what everyone believed to be a madman... Rated for mentions of violence, gore, and other nasty things
1. Prologue

**Yay! My first Naruto fanfic ever! I loved the series for a while now, but I never wanted to write a fic, but inspiration struck! After my friend lent me this book, I went through a sudden research spree and finally I've got something! This is an alternate universe fic so things will be different. I hope you enjoy it!**

**DISCLAIMER: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san and that is NOT I**

**WARNING: AU, Insanity, OOC, mass murder, and violence**

**PAIRINGS: Nothing really since I'm not a hopeless romance**

**Prologue**

"Junk, junk, junk, junk," young Uzumaki Naruto chanted as he dug through a wooden crate in the old attic in his home. It was a rainy day, his mom was away, and there was nothing to do, so he decided to find something to do in the attic. In the attic were a bunch of old stuff, antiques, and more old stuff, all of which did not interest Naruto in the slightest. He had called Sakura earlier asking about coming over, but she said she had homework to do.

"Arrrgh! There's nothing in here to do!" Naruto yelled in frustration harshly throwing an old photo album in the air. "Wait, I'll get some ramen! Mom left pork ramen in the cupboard!" As the now happy Naruto skipped towards the ladder, an old book landed on his head. Apparently when he threw the photo album, it hit a shelf, which knocked the book over.

"OW!" the blonde yelled clutching his throbbing head. He glared down at the book that assaulted his head. It was old, in fact ancient, that seemed to have come from at least the 19th century. It was bound in plain leather with no title on the cover or the spine.

Curiosity got the best of him as Naruto picked up the old book. Carefully flipping through the old book he noticed that it wasn't a novel, but someone's diary or journal. What also caught his normally slow mind was that the dates were, in fact, over a period of nine years.

_How boring,_ thought Naruto as he closed the book. He was about to fling the worthless junk across the attic when a piece of paper slipped out between the pages. Setting the book down, Naruto picked up the paper and after unfolding it, read in his slow manner:

_Dear Naruto,_

_Well, as you can probably tell, I'm dying of an incurable illness and I really wish I could have given you this now, but you know hospitals. _

_Anyway, as you know, I was a detective for twenty years. My main focus was mostly on murders. While investigating several, the police discovered that the murders were made by a serial killer, and a good one at that. We could never figure out who this murderer was so we called him _Shadow_, because of the way he manages to escape. You probably heard of him, he was well known for killing people and dissecting people in a matter of seconds._

_Well, last year, we caught him. By then, he had been on the run for 7 years, killing exactly 44 victims. It was, surprisingly, a seventeen-year-old boy, who was, by then, quite insane. He did nothing to try and prove himself not guilty. He was sentenced to life in jail. A week after he was put in prison, he someone managed to commit suicide. Autopsy tests showed that he probably knocked his head against the wall countless times before it hit the medulla. _

_Up till then, I thought he was a heartless and psychotic boy who was only out for blood, until I found this at a crime scene. It turns out this was the diary of _Shadow_. Read this and I promise you, you will know the truth behind the madman the media made him._

_Your father_

_PS. Oh, one more thing, DO NOT SHOW THIS TO ANYONE! Trust me, no one's going to believe you…_

Well, as you can imagine, Naruto was not the brightest tool in the shed and it took him a while to register his father's words. He, of course, knew about the first paragraph. He was notified of his father's death during lunch when he was eating ramen. The news broke his heart since his father was his best support.

The second paragraph took some searching through his memory when it hit him. Shadow was one of the most famous serial killers in the century! Known for killing in the same area 44 times, Shadow could leave his victims slashed down in vulnerable points of the body in a matter of seconds.

The third paragraph made no sense to him whatsoever! Many of his classmates had to admit that his IQ was that of a third grader and he knew it. He never had interest in watching crime shows or read Sherlock Holmes nor did he ever pay attention in science.

The fourth and last paragraph confused him slightly. His father knew as much, maybe even more, that he hated reading. Why would he want him to read a diary, and one that of a serial killer! That was insane!

_You will know the truth behind the madman the media made him._ Well, it couldn't hurt to read a little bit of the diary, wouldn't it? _It'll probably get boring or gory after a while, right_, thought Naruto as he picked up the leather-bound book.

Flipping to the first page of the diary, he began to read the thoughts of Shadow, on a stormy day…

**TBC…**

**So, should I continue? I know it must be cliché; or insane to write about a serial killer, but heck, it's interesting! Review please! I've been really sissy about flames and I know plenty of authors get those, so flames are welcome on this fic.**

**Now, here's the biggest issue I have on this fic. I CAN'T SEEM TO MAKE UP MY MIND ON WHO THE SERIAL KILLER SHOULD BE! You can tell me who you want to be Shadow in your review. **


	2. Entry 1

**Well, normally I would have given up on projects that are technically rejected, but no matter. It's rare that I actually do finish a multi-part like this so I'll finish it! I'll be posting multiple entries seeing as some of the entries are short. Enjoy whatever carp it may have.**

**DISCLAIMER: Not mine. End of story**

**WARNING: AU, OOC, mentions of violence, signs of insanity**

**PAIRINGS: None really since I'm no hopeless romance (I actually try to avoid romance as much as possible)**

**Entry 1**

_13 July 1997_

_Well, SHE told me to start writing down my thoughts so SHE could check on me so I have to obey, even though my personal thoughts don't matter to anyone but me. My name is, well, why should a stupid book know my name? No one calls me by my name. It's either "boy" or "brat" in this household. I will tell it that I'm seven, though, since I don't think THEY know my age either._

_SHE yells at me to come downstairs at once to feed the family breakfast. Straining myself to looking "nice" to HER I limp downstairs to see HER on the couch watching TV and smoking. Next to HER is HIM who smelled badly. HE was drinking again._

_"What would you like?" I ask while glaring at THEM. I don't like THEM and THEY don't like me._

_"Don't give me that tone, boy, now make the breakfast now!" SHE yells as she slaps me on the face. I cook some eggs and rice. I set the table. I grab a bun and storm upstairs to get ready for school._

_I change into a shirt and shorts and grab my bag. I hop downstairs as my leg hurt. It was painful at the bottom. I was going to school when SHE yelled at me._

_"What is **this**?" I turn to see her glaring at me a plate of the hastily cooked rice and half-cooked eggs. "This is **not** breakfast!"_

_"Cook breakfast yourself then," I said before running out the door. I was going to get it later._

-X-

Naruto stopped reading there. By then, the storm had stopped and he was getting hungry for ramen. He shut the old diary and set it down on the dusty floor. Climbing down the ladder, he left the attic leaving the old book behind.

-X-

"Ah, that was delicious!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he set the dishes on the kitchen counter. "Now, what to do next?" After doing his homework and eating more ramen, he got bored. His mother still wasn't back yet and the ramen ran out. _Wait, what about that old diary upstairs,_ Naruto thought. Well, it couldn't hurt reading a little more, could it?

Naruto jogged up the stairs to the attic and after spotting the diary, quickly ran to it and picked it up kicking dust in the process. Flipping back to the first entry, he noticed something about the entry. Shadow said he was seven, but his grammar wasn't that of a seven-year-old. It seemed that this Shadow wasn't a mindless fool before.

Turning to where he left off, he started reading…

I limp to school on my good leg. My bad foot got twisted from last night's beating. HE twisted my foot because I burnt dinner. Most kids take the bus, but they have money and I don't. No one likes me anyway. 

_I see the school and limp quicker. I got beaten by bullies and now my limp is worse. In class, I got in trouble for turning in my homework late. Those bullies took it! My teacher's scary when he's angry. At lunch, I got food thrown at me, again. During recess, older kids pushed me again. I got scraped and cut. _

_When I got home, SHE yelled at me for being late. I got a beating from HIM who complained about the bad dinner I made. If they want dinner, they should make it themselves! After doing the easy homework, I went to bed thinking that I hate THEM enough to kill them._

Naruto set the book down and started thinking slowly. Despite that it was clear that the boy was no doubt a prodigy in writing, he didn't specify who HE or SHE was. Maybe they were people so horrible to him, they weren't worthy of Shadow calling them anybody but pronouns. He had heard of the beginnings of serial killers. They're abused in many ways at a young age, which gives them a sense of inferiority.

_Wow, tough life, _thought Naruto as he flipped to another entry.

_16 July 1997_

_Bad beating last night. Don't have much time to talk since HE is yelling that I get down to make breakfast. I hope that THEY get THEIR necks wrung so hard it'll kill them. THEY don't care about me anyway. Maybe I should hang myself._

Naruto noticed that on this page were some bloodstains in various areas and the handwriting was shaky, as if the seven-year-old Shadow was beaten so bad he was coughing up blood. The blonde winced at thinking at how painful it must have been to poor Shadow. _Tough life_, he had thought earlier. _No, unbearable suffering would be the right word._

Naruto, wanting to know more about this Shadow, turned to the next entry, which was covered in blood and tear stains. _What could have happen to him here?_ Naruto thought as he started reading.

20 July 1997 

_I **hate **HIM! I can't believe HE did that to me! I wrote about someone wringing THEIR necks, forget it! **I** want to wring them myself! He isn't worthy to be my father! And SHE isn't either!_

_So HE and SHE are his parents,_ Naruto thought. _They must have been awful for him to hate them that much. _The blonde found this interesting as he flipped to the next page.

**TBC…**

**Still at this piece of carp for some reason, but this is my first Naruto fic so I'm not giving up. Review kudasai! I'll be a man and suck up flames too.**


	3. Entry 2

**Still with this and I'm still going. Thanks for reviewing! I hope that I can finish this with maybe 10-15 chapters so I've got a ways to go. But, as Naruto says, Believe it! Enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: Kishimoto owns this awesome series and it is not I**

**WARNING: AU, OOC, mentions of violence, abuse, and mental breakdown**

**PAIRINGS: None (Not everyone loves romance)**

**NOTE: **In some people's reviews, they were thinking that Sasuke or Itachi were Shadow. I'm not sure if either of them will be, but as a hint, Shadow is quite anti-social.

**Entry 2** _31 July 1997_

_Today, I heard the older kids saying two words: superior and inferior. When I got home, I asked the nice lady next door about it. She said they were opposites: superior was the higher person and inferior was the lower person. I want to be the superior for once. I've seen the older boys do it. They do that with animals. Maybe I should try that._

_Animals? What does that have to do with being superior?_ Naruto thought as he flipped to the next entry. This entry was different from all the others before it. Attached to the short, scrawny, entry was a photograph taken using a disposable camera.

The blonde couldn't help but look away in disgust. The legs of a mouse had been ripped out of their sockets showing the tendon. Blood was pooling out of several stab marks in the side and the eyes, oh yuck!

Naruto quickly covered the macabre image with his sleeve and started reading the entry while trying to get that gruesome image out of his mind.

_16 August 1997_

_So this is what superior feels like. It feels so good, and yet, it felt so awful. I don't know why, but it did. It still felt good though. I liked HER reaction when she saw it._

_Yeah, his mom's reaction when she saw a dead mouse, gross!_ Naruto thought as he flipped to the next page. What he saw was another cheap picture, this time a spider with its legs ripped out and the guts spilling. The blonde quickly flipped to the next page without bothering to read the entry only to find another mangled image of an insect. He kept flipping the pages until he stopped at a short entry this time accompanied with a less disturbing picture.

The picture itself was drawn instead of photographed. Although the picture was drawn with the skill of a seven-year-old, it was clear enough to know what it was. There were tubes, each labeled as a different type of liquid. Written in scrawny handwriting at the bottom of each tube were:

_Sand, sake, water, milk, and vodka_

Below that was a chart of timings from fifteen to twenty seconds. In the first column was a list of the names of small animals ranging from insects to mice. It took Naruto only a moment to realize what all the chicken scratch and chart was about. Shadow was timing how fast those animals drowned in different things!

_This guy really **is** psychotic!_ Naruto thought as he slammed the old diary shut before dashing out of the attic and down the stairs. All those macabre-like images were making his stomach churn along with the undigested ramen he ate.

-X-

After spewing out his lunch, Naruto weakly climbed back up the ladder. Despite all the horrible images of mangled animals, he still wanted to read it. It's not like Shadow was into mangling people, or was he?

Flipping through until he found the first entry after the one with the stats of drowning times.

_9 March 1998_

_It's my birthday today, but THEY didn't seem to care. The teacher was nice enough to give me a cookie, but then that bully took it during lunch. Then this nice girl gave me her ribbon. I thought it was nice of her since no one gave me a present. I've seen other kids on their birthdays. They bring cupcakes for their friends and their friends give them balloons. _

_It was nice of that girl to give me a present, but she's moving tomorrow. That's always my life, the nice people leave._

_So his birthday's on March 9,_ thought Naruto after reading the entry. _Hm, maybe I can find his name somewhere. And I know the right person to do it._

-X-

"You want me do _what_?" a girl with pink hair asked in surprise.

"Can you please find someone's name by birthday, Sakura?" Naruto asked clasping his hands together.

"And why do you want me to do this, Naruto?" Sakura said putting her hands on her hips. "Sure, I can find someone's name by birthday, but millions of people might have the same birthday. If you give me other information such as this person's age, gender, anything like that, I'll find it."

"This person is sixteen, lived in Japan, born on March 9, and died last year," the blonde recited from a piece of paper he brought with him. He knew he was going to forget, anyway.

"Okay, I'll try."

Opening her laptop, Sakura hacked into a database of people's names in a flash. She typed in all the information Naruto told her and searched.

The teen gasped. There were no mentions of Shadow's name! No deceased sixteen-year-old was listed in the largest name database on the Web!

"Are you sure you got the right information, Naruto?" Sakura inquired turning her head to look at Naruto.

"I'm sure!" Naruto replied. "I even double-checked!

"Well, if you can get the right information, come back and maybe I'll be able to help you," Sakura replied closing her laptop before walking away leaving Naruto racking his brains about the results.

_This can't be! How can Shadow not be listed in the database? Unless…_ Naruto thought. _There was no official record of him._

**TBC…**

**Well, hoped you enjoy it. Review kudasai. I'll be a man and suck up flames too. Oh, by the way, guess who else's birthday is on March 9 (Hint: This person worked on the anime)**


	4. Entry 3

**So, onto the next entry, huh? Well, I don't know how long I'll continue this, but I'm aiming for ten chapters. If I succeed then I'll break my record in multi-chapters. If not, well, I hope I can get past five. Enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own, end of story**

**WARNING: AU, OOC, mentions of violence, death, and mental breakdown**

**PAIRINGS: None**

**NOTES: **For Certified Anime Addict, I didn't know that Tenten's birthday was also on March 9! Actually, Sugiyama Noriaki (seiyuu for Sasuke) was also born on March 9.

**Entry 3**

_His name isn't listed? But, that's impossible!_ The blonde thought as he walked home. _That database practically has everyone in Japan listed! _Naruto kept swirling the possibilities in his head until he got home and into the attic. The old diary was still where he left it: on the floor and flipped to where he left off.

18 April 1998 There was no accompanying entry, but there was a clipping from a newspaper attached to the old page with tape. Naruto sat on the floor and gazed at the article. It was old, dating 1998, like the entry. 

_At around 5 in the morning, two dead cats were found hanging by their tails at a nearby pole. Their bodies were ripped apart and thrown against the pole. If you see these incidents happening, contact the police at the nearest prefecture._

_Yuck, so Shadow moved from being a mouse-ripper to a cat-ripper,_ Naruto thought. _Is this how people become serial killers?_

On the next page was another clipping. It was a short article on a fire that occurred between Tokyo and Chiba. The fire had burnt down an old restaurant killing fifteen people. The remaining person alive was a woman her dress half-ripped. Reports later discovered that the restaurant was used as a brothel for reasons unknown.

Below the article was a note written in Shadow's chicken scratch. It was short, but it meant everything he was thinking when he committed the act.

It serves them right for doing something that bad.

_Well, I can't blame him for doing this,_ Naruto thought before flipping to the next page and was surprised the time gap between the previous entry and the current one. It took place on Shadow's 9th birthday.

_9 March 1999_

_Finally! THEY got what they deserved! It feels so good doing this, and yet, it feels like I was possessed. Who cares? It still felt good!_

"THEY", again, were mentioned, though he already tripped up and called them his parents. This time he said that they got what he deserved. Wait, then that means…

"Oh kami-sama, he **killed** his parents!" Naruto screamed out loud. _Well, it's not like they were actually treating him nicely…_

**TBC…**

**Well, here's the turning point where Shadow starts his killing spree. Sorry it's so short, but I wrote this while I was trying to study. Review kudasai!**


	5. Entry 4

**Fourth chapter coming up! Let's see how long I can keep up on this since exams are coming up and I need to study! Plus, I've got a test and presentation tomorrow, a project due the next day, and another project next week. Enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own**

**WARNING: AU, mentions of violence and mental breakdown**

**Entry 4**

Naruto didn't want to read anymore. He didn't want to hear all the gory details of Shadow's next killing nor the words of his corrupt mind. He slammed the diary shut and ran out of the attic. The blonde heard his mom calling for him, anyway. Maybe dinner would get his mind off of the old pages.

-X-

After a nice dinner, Naruto couldn't concentrate on his homework. His mind lingered back to the diary on the dust-covered floor of the attic. He didn't want to read the details of Shadow's next killings, but his father told him that it would touch him. Well, it couldn't hurt to read a little more, could it?

Jotting down one last thing for the essay he had to do, Naruto walked back upstairs to the attic where the old diary of Shadow was. Sitting cross-legged, Naruto turned to where he left off after the murder of Shadow's parents.

_24 March 1999_

This entry was accompanied with two newspaper clippings. Naruto read the clippings.

_At around 5 pm, a man and a woman, both 40 years old, were found dead in their home. The woman had been strangled with a towel and the man had been stabbed in the back with a fruit knife. Witnesses show that they saw a boy run out of the house, but no one could identify him since he was wearing a large jacket with the hood up. If anyone finds anyone suspicious call your local precinct **immediately**._

Within the article, the words "strangled" and "stabbed" were circled and "dead" was underlined in red. The blonde assumed that it was Shadow's way of showing his victory.

_"So that was his first appearance in the media,"_ Naruto thought as he started reading the second article.

_This morning, four 9-year-old boys were found in an alley dead. Both had been stabbed with a knife, which killed them instantly. The handprints on the boys' clothes suggest that they were murdered by the same person as the incident on March 9, though police still can't identify the prints. Police are still investigating on the two incidences. Until then, stay alert of anything suspicious._

Underneath the article was an entry by Shadow.

_They shouldn't have hit me like that._

Naruto could agree on Shadow's note, but did he have to resort to killing? _"This guy has his line of reasoning messed up…"_

The blonde flipped to the next page and read the next entry, which didn't contain an article this time, but an ordinary entry.

_1 May 1999_

_Well, now that I'm done with THEM, I can go back to living on my own. It still felt good when I killed those boys for bullying me every day._

_"So those dead boys were those bullies that he hated."_ Naruto thought it over and thought that maybe, it wouldn't be so bad to finish reading the diary. Flipping to the next page, the blonde started reading again.

**TBC…**

**I'll stop there for now. I've got a plotline that I have to follow so I need to. Review kudasai!**


	6. Entry 5

**Chapter 5! Wow, this is getting good. After getting reviews to make the chapters longer, I'm going to aim for 7 chapters. Thanks for reviewing! Enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: Not mine**

**WARNING: AU, mentions of violence and mental breakdown**

**Entry 5**

Naruto read the next few entries with a deep curiosity. All of them dealt with murders of Shadow's enemies or the ones that wronged him in the past. After killing 14 people, he suddenly stopped. According to the clippings taped in the diary, his sudden stop made the entire media question about it.

_"Then again, he might have just wanted to take a break,"_ Naruto thought to himself as he turned to the first page. _"Murdering people and then getting away must be tiring."_ The blonde turned the page in the diary to find another article taped to the page.

_12 January 2000_

_At around 7 pm, a man was found dead in a gutter. His head showed severe damage to the head and his arms were broken in four places. Studies of the bodies indicate that the serial killer, dubbed _Shadow_ by the media, had used a bat to knock him in the head and then break his arms. However, when found, the victim was found holding onto a ripped section of a pair of corduroy jeans. Reports later suggest that 30-year-old man was, perhaps, trying to sexually assault _Shadow_, but whether that was _Shadow_'s jeans are unknown. Until then, people within the area should stay alert and report any suspicious characters immediately._

Underneath the article was an entry written by Shadow. For the first time since Shadow's first kill, there were bloodstains on the page, and the handwriting was shaky, as if what he did had spooked, or angered, the young serial killer.

_That bastard deserved what he got. He never should have done that to me. For the first time since HE did that to me, I feel… inferior. I almost forgot how that felt. That's why I give people like THEM what they deserved._

_"He seems to hate what happened to him a while ago," _Naruto thought to himself. _"I wonder why…"_ He was about to flip to the next page when his mother yelled at him to get to bed at once before she dumps his ramen in the trash. Not wanting that to happen, the blonde ran out of the attic and into bed leaving the old diary in the attic, open, and where he left off.

-X-

The blonde twisted and turned in his bed trying to get some sleep, but failing miserably. His mind was plagued by the words of the diary. He displayed so much hatred to his parents and everyone he murdered. He had remembered reading about serial killers in history class and most of them were motivated by sexual lust or some kind of hallucination, but Shadow seemed to be motivated for finding and murdering the people that gave him the worst life in Japan.

Not bothering to resist the temptation anymore, Naruto ran quietly to the attic and snatched the diary from its place on the floor. He crept downstairs, remembering to jump over the last creaky step, and into his room, where he turned on a flashlight and started reading where he left off.

_15 January 2000_

_I don't like what people are calling me. Everywhere in the media, I'm called _Shadow_. THEY only called me "brat" and "boy", and now them! Isn't there anyone who knows me by my real name apart from THEM?_

_"People would think that after living in conditions like that, he would have stopped," _Naruto muttered under his breath as he turned again.

-X-

Naruto's reading continued well into the night. He only got about 3 hours of sleep before he was shaken awake by his mother for breakfast. He couldn't stay up much in class and had to stand in the hall. During lunch, he fell asleep over his bowl of ramen and had to be shaken awake by Sakura. The normally cheerful blonde was feeling grouchy today as school finished.

As he got on the bus home, Naruto opened the diary and flipped to the next page. This time, tearstains were splashed all over the page smearing the ink and crumpling the page. The writing was also shaky. The pages crinkled as Naruto smoothed the page and started reading.

_5 May 2000_

_I didn't want to do that, and yet, I did. I can't believe I did that to that girl. Have I really gone that bad? I only heard a twig snap and suddenly; I flipped out my knife and stabbed her. I got away, but can I keep myself under control?_

There was no accompanying article of the murder this time. Naruto has his suspicions that Shadow wanted to forget that incident altogether. How come after killing 24 people, he regretted killing the girl.

_"It's because the girl never did anything to him…"_

**TBC…**

**Turning point number 2! I hope you enjoyed the (slightly) longer chapter. Review kudasai!**


	7. Entry 6

**Well, here it is! I hope you enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: Not mine**

**WARNING: AU, OOC, mentions of violence and mental breakdown**

**Entry 6**

For the next several years, Shadow continued to murder people without any specific preference. By the time those entries were past, Naruto had researched a lot on serial killers, something he rarely did in his free time.

Like Shadow, serial killers normally come from abusive families. Most tend to murder to have a feeling of superiority with "cooling" breaks in between. However, most serial killers seemed to be motivated by lust, while Shadow was only out to kill people who dared try to harm him. He seemed to have two of the three characteristics of future serial killers (Killing animals, starting fires), but whether he had the third one (bedwetting after of age), Naruto couldn't tell.

When Naruto returned to the attic, he was surprised to find that he was almost done reading the diary. For someone who doesn't normally read in his free time, this was quite an achievement. Then again, this was no ordinary book. Flipping to the next page, Naruto started reading the last few pages.

_11 May 2006_

_I've become a monster, a wild animal so paranoid they kill anything that gets near them. Out of all the killings I've done, only 15 of them were reported. I want to stop, but I can't. It's as if my body is now reacting automatically, and my mind seems to want to kill more._

_Why didn't I stop before?_

Once again, there was no article indicating any of his killings. Then again, most of the killings weren't reported. However, the blonde noticed that his father had clipped in one other article concerning Shadow. Pulling it out, Naruto started reading his blue eyes widening at the contents it possessed.

_11 May 2006_

_Around midnight, a 13-year-old boy was found lying dead in an alley next to the corner store. He was killed instantly with a stab in the abdomen by a switchblade. Next to him was a 12-year-old badly beaten and hanging onto a wallet. Interviews with the boy suggest that the 13-year-old's death was Shadow's doing, but whether he beat the 12-year-old, no one knows._

_"Shadow doesn't normally beat up people," says Sergeant Morino Ibiki, "he kills them and goes. If this is indeed the work of Shadow, this is new."_

_The 12-year-old is currently confined in Tokyo General Hospital recovering from three cracked ribs, a broken arm, and numerous cuts and bruises. Police are still investigating this next Shadow case and it may be a while before they figure it out._

This particular case had struck a personal blow to Naruto as well as nearly the whole class. The twelve-year-old, Gaara, had taken a walk when an upperclassman jumped him, beaten him, and would have raped him had he not have been killed by Shadow. The redhead was injured for a week, and when he fully recovered from the incident, he was bombarded with questions about Shadow. He said he couldn't see Shadow's face, but he saw long, dark hair before he passed out.

The incident had the whole class excited about what Shadow really looked like. Some said that Shadow was a girl; others claim that Shadow was homeless, but no one knows. However, one question kept the class gossiping: why did Shadow not kill Gaara? After all, the redhead couldn't get up, which made him an easy target for a serial killer. If Shadow had the opportunity, why didn't he take it?

That year, Naruto only thought that since the police were coming, or someone heard the commotion, Shadow didn't have the time to finish of Gaara, but now, after reading all the entries about the serial killer being abused by everyone, he finally realized why Shadow spared a boy's life.

_"It's because he wanted to help, and because he didn't do anything to him."_

-X-

_12 June 2006_

_Well, I guess that's the end of the line for me. Thank goodness. I knew I wouldn't be able to survive. I stabbed someone in the back for trying to hit on me, and suddenly, the police came out of nowhere and grabbed me from behind. I got dragged to the police station and was questioned. _

_I was silent at first, but then, the pressure got down so much I blurted out everything including the murders not reported. After that, I was locked up in a cell, which is where I am now. The walls are cold, and so is floor. There's not much light to see, and I can only hope that I'll live._

Wedged between the pages was another article left by Naruto's father. Pulling the old paper out, the blonde read it squinting to read the faded-out letters.

_11 June 2006_

_The serial killer, Shadow, was caught after murdering a homeless man. The police caught him and brought him to the Yamata-Chuo Precinct. It turns out that Shadow was a short, 16-year-old boy who was homeless. He didn't say much about his past except for that he killed some people._

_After about 2 hours of silence, he confessed to murdering and hiding 17 other people. He only said one thing that was rendered useless by the police. He said, "I only killed out of self-defense."_

_Shadow wouldn't tell the authorities his real name or where he came from, but what we do know is that his name is not mentioned on any records at all. He will be tried on 15 June._

_"So this is when he was caught,"_ Naruto thought as he scanned the article with deep interest. Still, that didn't explain when he died. There must have been something else.

Naruto flipped to the next page, but it was blank. He tried the next several pages, but those were also blank. He flipped to the end, but nothing. Didn't his father say that the diary had the truth? Then the blonde realized stupidly that he had missed a page. Laughing sheepishly to himself, he found the right page and read.

_15 June 2006_

_This is driving me crazy. Everyone here wants to abuse me. I can't take it anymore. I just want to die. Before I do, I told a book that I didn't want to say my name. Well, I guess I do now. I'll tell it everything since it'll be the only one that'll want to know. _

I was conceded in an open field, which is why there's no record of me. My parents died on the streets, and THEY found me. After being abused, I killed THEM. After I started murdering, I only murdered people who tried to get near me and try to do the same things THEY did. Then, things got out of hand, and they caught me. 

_I still remember my mom. She often said that I reminded her of winter. She was amazed as to how well I could stand the cold and blend in._

_I hope that whoever reads this knows my name._

_My name is…_

Naruto squinted at the shaky handwriting. There was a bloodstain on the name. However, Naruto could read it clearly. It was a single kanji character. The strokes form two shaky boxes stacked on top of each other with a tick mark on top. The blonde knew the kanji all too well. It meant the exact opposite of what everyone Shadow seemed to them.

_White…_

_Then, after he wrote this, he died._

_Not a serial killer, but melted like snow..._ **Owari**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed this! I'm working on another Naruto fic, so be ready! Until then, ja ne!**


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